Daycare
by Adolis
Summary: What would happen if Tifa ran a daycare and the children were other Final Fantasy characters? This is my research into the mystery.
1. Chapter 1

Tifa's Daycare: Day 1- Month 1

* * *

Tidus' mother came in early on the first day holding her squealing son by the hands and swinging him from side to side. Tifa was a bit unnerved by this. "I don't think you should do that…"

"Oh, it's fine," his mother assured, swinging her son clumsily into a more secure spot on her hip, "I've only dropped him once or twice and he bounced right back up."

"Tifaaa!" Tidus yelled, wriggling until his mother put him down before rushing over. He held up his hands and beamed, "Uppie, Teefie!" he commanded. Unable to resist his charm, Tifa picked the boy up. He was the only one here at the moment, after all, what harm would it do?

"So, when should I expect you back?" Tifa asked, bouncing the 2-year-old on her hip.

"Oh, I dunno. Maybe sometime this afternoon? I have lots of things I need to take care of. Thank you, Tifa!" Tidus' mom finished signing her boy in before leaving. Tifa sighed. This is why teenagers should never have kids.

Tifa played with Tidus for a half hour before her next drop offs came.

Mrs. Hardy's unmistakable voice rang across the parking lot, "NOW, GOLBEYEZ, YOU MAKE SURE TO PLAY NICE WITH THE OTHER KIDS. NO MOAH OF THIS BULLYIN' BUSINESS. CECIL, YOU MAKE SURE TO LET MS. TIFA KNOW IF YOU START TO FEEL FUNNY. I'M LEAVING HOIER WITH MY PHONE NUMBUH SO YOU BOYS CAN CALL ME IF YOU NEED ANYTHING."

Tifa walked up to the front, "Hello, Mrs. Hardy. How are you all doing today?" she asked. Tidus had stayed in a separate room playing with toys.

Mrs. Hardy patted her fluffy red hair and straightened out her "dress" (it was really a nice shirt, but the woman was so tiny it reached her knees without issue), "WELL, BAYBEE-CECIL IS ON A NEW MEDICINE. IT KEEPS HIS NOSE FROM RUNNING, BUT HE HASN'T TAKEN IT YET, TODAY. I HAVE THE TIMES HE NEEDS TO TAKE IT AT AND THE DOSAGE AMOUNT WRITTEN ON THE SIDE OF THE BOTTLE FOR YOU. I'M SORRY FOR THE BOTHUH, HONEY. AND I'VE TOLD YOU OVUH AND OVUH TO JUST CALL ME GWENNYTH, TIFA. WE'RE ALL ADULTS HEYUH."

Cecil sniffed and rubbed his nose shyly.

Tifa laughed, "Of course, Mrs. Hardy, the medicine's no problem, but I'd feel odd calling you by your first name. It's just the way I was raised," Tifa shrugged. She accepted the medicine and peered at the side.

Mrs. Hardy gasped and looked at her watch, "OI, VEY. I GOTTA GO! I'M GONNA BE LATE TO THE BEAUTY PARLAH!" she gave Golbez a sloppy wet kiss, leaving a big lipstick mark on his cheek. Golbez angrily started wiping at the lipstick. Mrs. Hardy reached up and pulled Cecil into a quick kiss on the mouth before pointing a finger up at her older son, "I SEE YOU TRYING TO WIPE OFF MY LOVE, GOLBEYEZ. THAT'S WHY YOU ONLY GET KISSES ON THE CHEEK. YOU'LL MISS IT WHEN YOU'RE OLDAH. BAYBEE-CECIL HAS ALWAYS BEEN MORE WELCOMING OF MAMA'S LOVE. ISN'T THAT RIGHT, SWEETIE-PIE?"

Cecil grinned and laughed, his mother's plum lipstick spreading across his mouth and cheeks.

"Hmph," Golbez scowled and finished wiping off his mother's lipstick.

Things went smoothly for the next couple of hours. Terra, Locke, Kimahri, and Claire arrived, Claire with her little sister Serah's (who hadn't been there before) hand clasped firmly in her own. She made absolutely sure that Tifa knew every detail about her little sister's peanut allergy. "You have to make sure that Serah doesn't eat pea-nuts. Because the last time that she ate pea-nuts, her throat got rea-lly big and we had to go to the doc-tor. She al-so can't eat any-thing that has pea-nuts in it."

"Alright, Claire," Tifa nodded to the 5-year-old, "I'll make sure that Serah doesn't eat anything with peanuts in it. Thank you for taking such good care of your sister." Tifa jotted down Serah's allergy in her medical needs book underneath Cecil's paragraph. That poor boy had more things wrong with him…

A new girl named Garnet was one of the sweetest little things Tifa had ever seen, and she instantly fell in love with the small horned girl who loved tea parties.

A bit later, a woman came in carrying a two-year-old on her hip. "I'm here to drop off Rinoa Carraway," the woman said, putting the dark-haired girl down. Rinoa pouted and jumped next to the woman, demanding to be picked up again. She was in a tiara and Queen Elsa costume. Tifa could sense a troublemaker.

Within the next two hours, several kids arrived. Among them were Firion, Light, a cute new boy named Bartz, new kids Irvine, Vivi, and Yuna, Beatrix, Steiner, Seifer, and Quistis.

"Mamaaaa!" a familiar voice squealed from the front room. Tifa erupted into a smile and went up to meet her newcomer.

"Hey, Zell!" she greeted, "How are you today, Carla?"

"I'm doing wonderfully, Tifa," Mrs. Dincht smiled.

Zell reached his hands out, "Aah! Ah!"

"Remember to use your words, Zell," his mother reminded him.

"AAAHH!" the boy squealed.

"Can you say 'Hello'?" Tifa asked.

"Hi!"

Both mother and caretaker laughed, "Very good!" Mrs. Dincht bounced her son before passing the 2-year-old over to Tifa. "Bye, Tifa! I'll be back at the usual time!"

"Of course!" Tifa hugged the young boy close to her and waved his hand, "Say 'See you later, Mommy'."

"Bye, Ma!" Zell flapped his arms and bid his mother farewell.

In the next hour, only one person who had registered to drop their child off wasn't there yet, but little Squall Loire and his mother were in the daycare shortly. Mrs. Loire walked in carrying her son on her hip. As soon as the boy saw Tifa, he buried his face into his mother's shoulder and pulled his light blue blanket close to his face.

"You're Mrs. Strife?" Raine Loire asked.

"Yes, ma'am." Tifa extended her hand and Mrs. Loire shook it, "And this must be Squall. Such a nice name."

Mrs. Loire smiled proudly, "Oh, thank you. He's a complete darling once he gets to know you, but I have to let you know that he's not very good with strangers, I'm sorry."

Tifa shrugged, "Oh, that's no problem. Some kids just take longer to get comfortable than others. I'll do my best to make sure he isn't overwhelmed."

"Thank you very much," Mrs. Loire lifted her son's face off of her shoulder and looked him in the eye, "You're going to go with Mrs. Strife today, Squall, so make sure you're on your best behavior. I'll be back later, alright, sweetie?" she gave him a kiss and passed him to Tifa. Squall started whining before his mother had even finished the trade-off. Once Tifa had him, the boy pushed against her, wanting to be put back in his mother's arms. Mrs. Loire shot an apologetic look at Tifa, who shrugged understandingly, before turning and leaving the daycare.

Squall started crying. Loudly.

Tifa waited until Mrs. Loire was out of the parking lot before putting Squall down, who ran over to the heavy glass door and squatted down on the floor and cried harder when he couldn't open it. Tifa went over and picked him up. The outraged boy smacked Tifa's face, and she grabbed his hand and spoke sternly, "No, sir. We do not hit here," she warned.

Squall continued to wail and fought against Tifa's hold. She ignored it and kept Squall on her person while she walked around making sure everyone was happy and playing she passed by Seifer, he laughed and pointed at the wailing child in Tifa's arms. "Ha! Big baby chicken-wuss! Big baby chicken-wuss!" he chanted.

Tifa rose an eyebrow at the almost 4-year-old. "Oh, please, Seifer. Don't you remember your first day here? I know I do."

Seifer paused mid-laugh and scowled, "You just didn't have the toys I wanted."

"Oh, really? I distinctly remember you screaming for your mommy and wreaking havoc around the entire school while I chased you."

Seifer shifted his feet guiltily, "Sorry, Ms. Tifa…"

"It's all right, but you need to be nicer to others or they won't have a reason to be nice to you, okay, honey?" Tifa patted the boy's head. He smiled and ran off to play somewhere.

Tifa continued making her rounds until her stomach lurched. She raced to the bathroom (leaving Squall outside. Luckily he squatted down and continued crying) and threw up into the toilet. Ugh, morning sickness. She'd forgotten to eat her snack in all of the hubbub. She heaved a few times and, when her body made it obvious that this would take a while, she called Aerith.

"Hello?" the flower girl asked.

"Aerith, can you come watch-" Tifa retched into the toilet, "I'm so sorry…"

"Oh no! You have morning sickness again?! I'll be right over. Zack, I'm going to see Tifa! I'll bring something for you to eat, alright?"

"Thank you…"

There was a knock at Tifa's door. "Ms. Tifa? Are you okay?" a small voice asked from outside.

"I'm fine, sweetie," Tifa huffed. Terra was so sensitive, of course she would be the one to notice Tifa's misery, "Can you let every-…everyone know that Ms. Aerith is coming?"

Tifa heard Terra gasp, "Okay!" before her small feet ran from the door.

A tiny pat was made on the door and Tifa heard Squall whimper.

"I'm sorry, honey, you can't come in…"

By the time that Aerith arrived, news had spread like wildfire that Tifa was sick. Several of the kids came and checked on her. The older kids asked if there was anything they could do to help. Some of the older siblings understood why Tifa was sick and quieted fears that Tifa would die. Squall never left the door. When Aerith came in, the kids who knew her rushed over calling out that Ms. Aerith the story lady was here. Aerith walked over to the bathroom. Tifa knew this because Squall screamed and pushed furiously at her door.

"Oh my," Aerith stepped around Squall and opened the bathroom door. The tiny boy darted in and tried to close the door on Aerith. When he realized that he was not strong enough to keep Aerith out, he went and hid behind Tifa, who was crouched on the floor sweating and hovering over the toilet. She flushed and waited for the next wave of nausea.

Aerith's brow furrowed in worry and sympathy, "Aww, Tifa!" she rushed over and handed her a bottle of water, "I put some herbs in this that help stop nausea. It's really bitter, though, so I put strawberry flavoring in it to try and cover it up. Do you want me to get the little boy out of here?"

Tifa shook her head and accepted the water bottle, "He'll just start screaming again. Can you call Cloud? Don't tell him I'm sick, though."

Aerith laughed and rolled her eyes, "No kidding. Yeah, I'll call him," she made sure Tifa was sipping at the medicine, then left to call Cloud.

While waiting for Cloud to arrive, Aerith told stories from the planet to keep the kids entertained, and by the time Mr. Strife arrived, Tifa was up and running again.

A group of kids who had all arrived at the same time, Petunia, Eliha, and Cobalt, ran up to Tifa. Petunia was in the middle, holding each one of her friend's hands in one of her own. On her back was a dragon backpack, and sticking out of the top was a dragon toy. Petunia looked up at Tifa expectantly. "Do you like dragons?" she asked.

"Well, yeah. Dragons are cool," Tifa answered.

"You're my friend," the girl said with a big smile.

"I thought WE were your friends!" Eliha cried.

Cobalt let go of Petunia's hand and patted Eliha on the shoulder. Petunia immediately grabbed Cobalt's hand back.

The front door opened and Cloud walked in, "I'm here, Tifa. Is everything alright?"

Eliha gasped and blushed deeply. She made a short squeal and yanked on Petunia's arm.

"Ow! What, Panda?" Petunia yelped. Eliha, er, Panda, started whispering excitedly in her friend's ear. Tifa swore she heard the girl squeal "He's so cute!" but for some reason, she didn't feel incredibly threatened by the 4-year-old. Cloud walked over to Tifa and gave her a kiss, and Eliha made a tiny disappointed sound before turning back to Petunia and whispering more. They whispered together a bit and then Petunia shouted out, "Like I love Cobie!" before tackling said boy with a hug. Cobalt blushed and smiled. Eliha was mortified, "Xephiiiieee! Not so loud!"

Tifa rolled her eyes. Then she realized that Squall was nowhere in sight. She spun around looking for the tiny boy before spotting him outside playing in the sandbox. He had his blanket in his lap, and Tifa noticed for the first time the small lion embroidered in the corner. Aww, that boy was so cute.

There was a tug at Tifa's pant leg. She looked down to see Tidus holding both arms in the air, and laughed and picked up the toddler. He yawned and snuggled into Tifa's T-shirt clad chest. Tifa sighed. She should have known. "Alright everybody!" she called, "Lunchtime! Get your lunch boxes! Everyone who's new, follow the other kids into the eating room!"

The kids in Tifa's care immediately rushed toward their cubbies and to the fridge where their cold food was kept and ran to the lunch room. After lunch, it would be converted into the craft room, with several options of things to make. Tifa went outside to get the rest of her kids after putting Tidus down so he could eat. "Guys!" she called a second time, "Lunchtime! Hey! Snow! You know better than to play rough!" she hollered as she ran over to the tall 6-year-old and got him off of the shorter chubby boy.

Snow stuck out his tongue and Tifa grabbed and pinched it with her nails, resulting in a wail. "AOHW! Leggo o' my thunge!" the boy yelped.

"You don't treat Ms. Tifa like that!" an outraged Adelbert cried.

Tifa let go, "Now apologize to me and Adelbert."

Snow moved his tongue around in his mouth, "Thorry, Tifa," he looked at the other boy and made a face, "Sorry Adelbert."

Tifa nudged Snow toward the building, "Go on and eat your lunch. You too, Adelbert."

The youngest Steiner boy nodded eagerly and rushed inside. Tifa had had his two older brothers some time ago, but they were in 6th and 7th grade now. Tifa shook her head. Weird.

The last few kids zipped past Tifa and ran inside to get their lunches. She couldn't help but smile as Wakka and Zidane ran past, racing each other to the door. She turned to the sandbox and walked over to the only kid not getting their lunch.

"Squall, you hungry? It's time for lunch."

Squall got up silently and walked inside. A moment later Light ran outside, "Ms. Tifaaa! Locke and Zidane are taking from the other kids!" the beautiful white haired, blue eyed boy informed, "Cloud and Aerith don't know what to do, so they told me to come and get you."

Tifa sighed. Could those two never learn? She trotted inside and barked at the two boys, "Locke Cole! Zidane Tribal! Come here."

The two boys froze. Tifa glanced over at Cloud and Aerith, who both shrugged hopelessly. God, Cloud had better learn how to deal with kids before the baby comes.

Tifa knelt down to the guilty boys' level, and the entire room went silent. Watching. Tifa could feel Vaan watching carefully, as if remembering what the punishment was for stealing.

"How many times have I told you boys not to take from others?"

Locke shifted his feet.

Zidane mumbled, "A lot…"

"Right. Now give back what you took and come see me in the hallway. Cloud, Aerith, can you keep an eye on everyone while I'm out?"

"Of course!" Aerith chirped, "But I really should get back to work after you're done."

"Alright," Tifa nodded before going out into the hallway as the chatter began to rise in the lunch room once more. A moment later, Zidane and Locke wandered out into the hall.

"Do you two have lunches today?"

Zidane pointed inside the lunchroom silently. Locke shook his head.

"Does the lunch belong to you, Zidane?"

Zidane paused, then shook his head.

"I've told you two so often to just ask if you need food. I'm sure your friends wouldn't mind sharing, and I always have some extra with me if anyone needs it, okay?" she said softly.

The boys nodded silently. Zidane lifted his head, "So, even if someone has a whole bunch of extra food, we're not allowed to take any? Because Steiner always has a whole bunch of food with him."

"No, Zidane, you can't take Adelbert's food without permission. Come on. I have some things to make sandwiches in my office."

The boys smiled and chased after Tifa to the promise of peanut butter and jelly.

After lunch, the kids spread back out and Aerith went back to her work. Tidus wandered over to Tifa again and held his hands above his head, "Up!" he demanded. Tifa sighed, tossed the last of her ham and cheese sandwich into her mouth, and took the boy into her arms. Tidus snuggled down onto Tifa and yawned. Adjusting Tidus' weight, Tifa wandered around with Cloud gathering the under-fours for naptime. Most went willingly. Bartz, Terra (she was four, but still needed naps, sweet heart), Zell, Quistis, Selphie, Yuna, Kimhari, Vivi, and Serah went to the nap room and piled into the beds available and onto mats if they wanted. Tifa knew that she would return to find them all playing, but they were all at least in the same room. She put Tidus down in a bed, but he woke and started crying until Tifa picked him back up. Cloud and Tifa left to get the last few children who needed naps. Seifer was drawing with chalk outside. He yawned and rubbed his eyes and continued, pushing Auron away when the 7-year-old got too close to his masterpiece.

"Hey!" Auron barked angrily at the toddler before ignoring the behavior and leaving.

Squall wandered close by and watched Seifer draw. Seifer stuck a tongue out at the other boy, "What do you want, big baby?"

Across the yard, that Rinoa girl from earlier sat down and started wailing. Cloud trotted over to the girl and tried to pick her up, but she flopped onto her back and pushed against him, yelling all the while, "No! No!"

Squall looked over at Rinoa's fit. Seifer took that moment to snatch Squall's blanket and throw it in the chalk box. Squall yelled in outrage and attacked Seifer.

"Squall! Seifer!" Tifa yelled as she ran over.

A few of the other kids stopped ignoring the screaming babies and watched as Tifa and Auron (Cloud was still wrestling with Rinoa) wrenched the fighting boys apart. Squall threw one final kick at Seifer and missed before he (and Seifer) started crying. Squall reached for his chalky blanket and Auron carefully set the toddler down. Seifer fought against Tifa and woke Tidus, who started crying.

"Ugh. I hate naptime," Tifa groaned as she carried her two crying boys in. "Auron, could you bring Squall in, please?" she asked.

"Yes, ma'am," Auron took Squall's hand, cautious of another temper tantrum, and led the whimpering, hiccupping child inside.

Behind her, Tifa heard a surprised "Ow!" from Cloud.

She turned back to see that Cloud had the still screaming, squirming Rinoa tucked under his arm. He was shaking his other hand out, "She bit me!" he exclaimed over the girl's screams. He took Rinoa and took her under the armpits and held her half an arm's length, careful to keep her mouth away from him, "What do I do with her?" he looked to Tifa for help.

"Tell her not to bite. And make sure to be firm, but not mean." Tifa adjusted her boys and went through the door Auron was holding, "Thank you, Auron."

Cloud's brow furrowed and he looked at the thrashing toddler in his hands. He didn't think she would hear "firm but not mean" very well.

Eventually, Cloud and Tifa had gotten all but Rinoa to go potty and go to sleep. So Queen Elsa was going to be the one who caused issues at naptime…

The tiny tyrant had nearly lost her tiara in the fight against the sand man, her hair was disheveled, Cloud and Tifa were about to stick her in time out instead of a nap, and she was taking far too much of the pair's attention. Tifa put her hand over Rinoa's mouth and looked at Cloud. "I need volunteers."

"I wouldn't do that," Cloud warned as Rinoa bit Tifa's hand.

"Ow! _Rinoa_. We do _not_ bite."

When Rinoa kept screaming, Tifa pinched the girl's bicep. You know. One of those Mom grabs that hurts, but doesn't leave a mark. Rinoa yelped and looked at Tifa, not believing that someone would actually hurt her.

"We do _not_. Bite each other, Rinoa. Understand?" Tifa didn't let go of the sore spot.

Rinoa's lip quivered. She nodded.

"Now. I know you want to play, but you'll have a lot more fun if you're not tired, do you understand?" Tifa started calmly.

Rinoa nodded again, her puffy, red, sleepy eyes watering.

"Your parents made sure to send you your favorite things to sleep with so that you would be comfortable. Doesn't that sound nice?"

Rinoa paused, then nodded her head, "Yeah," she said hoarsely.

"They even sent your favorite toys. Now let's go take a nap, okay? You'll feel a lot better afterward."

Rinoa pouted, but followed Cloud and Tifa to the nap room and climbed into her saved spot with all of her things. She was asleep the instant she hugged her Olaf and Sven dolls close to her and laid her head down on her Ice Castle pillow. Tifa put Rinoa's Frozen themed blanket around the girl, checked to make sure everyone else was sleeping, then made a quick escape with Cloud.

"Oh my god." Cloud leaned against the wall and slid down to sit on the floor.

Tifa grunted in agreement and sat next to her husband.

Cloud looked over at Tifa, "Do you think our kid will do that?"

"Only once."

Cloud sighed and leaned his head against the wall.

"…You scared?" Tifa asked.

"Terrified."

"Well, you shouldn't be."

Cloud raised an eyebrow. Tifa got to her feet and helped him up. She gave him a kiss, "We'll raise our baby not to be a terror, after all. But in the meantime, I need at least 4 or 5 people to help me on a day-to-day basis." There was a tug at Tifa's pant-leg. She looked down at little Cecil Harvey, "Yes, sweetie?"

"It's thime to take my medicine, Ms. Thifa. Gowbez towd me to thell you," the boy sniffed loudly and wiped his nose on his sleeve.

"Alright, come on, Cecil. Cloud, you go keep an eye on the kids outside."

Cloud nodded and went outside while Tifa went up front and got Cecil's handful of medicines from the Harvey's little box. She gave the appropriate amount of his current medicines and some tissues to Cecil, then grabbed a bite to eat and sent Cecil back to play. Tifa heard squeals outside and when she looked, Cloud was being used as a jungle gym. She laughed and watched Cloud play with the children for a moment. Hanging off of one arm was Vaan, a cute enough boy, but he had always had trouble with following rules. More than once Tifa had caught him stealing food and other items with Locke and Zidane. Firion and tiny Luneth were respectively sitting on Cloud's foot and hanging off of his other arm, and Wakka had somehow shimmied up Cloud's back and came to rest on the SOLDIER's shoulders. From nearby, Tifa saw Eliha smiling at Cloud like a fool in love before Petunia and Cobalt dragged her away to play. Tifa made her way down the hall, munching on her cantaloupe, and checked in the rooms for the kids she hadn't seen outside. Lulu was in the playroom building a house for her stuffed moogle toy and for the daycare's dolls. Tifa walked in and sat next to the 5-year-old. The pretty girl turned her violet eyes on Tifa. "What?"

"I was just seeing what you were up to."

Lulu smiled shyly and looked down at the toys in her arrangement. "You got new dolls."

Tifa nodded, "Do you like them?"

"Yeah…" she picked at the lace on the sleeve of her shirt.

"Do you want me to find if someone wants to play with you?"

Lulu shook her head, "The others are too loud. They distract me, and then my magic doesn't work right."

"You remember what I said about using magic inside?"

"Only feel it run through my body. Don't use it inside or around the other children, because magic can be dangerous."

Tifa smiled and patted the dark head next to her, "Very good. Thank you, Lulu. Claire seems like a quiet person if you ever want someone to play with."

Lulu nodded and returned her attention to her arranged dolls.

Tifa got up and left to go check on Claire, who was in her usual spot in the lunch/craft room surrounded by books. Tifa looked in and remembered the scolding she had gotten the last time she had interrupted the pink haired girl when she was reading before moving on and going outside. Some of the kids here were too smart for their own good.

Outside, Tifa noticed Golbez wearing the daycare's sparring pads and challenging several of the other boys to wrestling matches, and that Beatrix seemed to be the most eager to accept the challenges not extended to her. She chased Golbez around, brown ringlets flying and delicate face set in a scowl, demanding that Golbez let her play with him and the other boys. Golbez fervently denied her access, saying that wrestling was just for boys.

Beatrix stuck out her tongue, "You're just mad because I beat you last time!"

"Did not!" the big, white-haired boy denied.

"Then let me play with you again!" she ordered.

Tifa called over to the sparring ring, "Golbez, let Beatrix play with you and the others."

Golbez opened his mouth to argue, but closed it and gave a sullen "Yes, ma'am."

Beatrix beamed and ran to put sparring gear on. "Thank you, Ms. Tifa!"

Tifa sat on a bench near the door and watched the kids at play while she ate more of her cantaloupe. She groaned when she saw Zidane in a tree. Again. He apparently hadn't outgrown the interest from years prior. She put the lid on her container and set it down on the bench.

"Zidane!" she called wearily as she walked over.

The boy made a face and hung by his tail just out of Tifa's low reach. She scowled and pointed at the ground.

"Aw, c'mon, Ms. Tifa, you know I won't fall," the boy said with a charming, lopsided smile.

"Down now."

The smile vanished and Zidane loosened his grip on the tree branch to drop when Adelbert trotted over, "Ms. Tifa's told you over and over not to climb in the trees, you stupid monkey," he said with a superior Ms. Tifa-likes-me-better-because-I-follow-the-rules chuckle.

"Shut up, Chubby!" Zidane sneered before jumping up higher into the tree.

Stony-faced, Tifa turned an angered Adelbert around and marched him away, telling him how he was going to apologize to Zidane when she eventually got him out of the tree. After a few minutes of trying to coax Zidane out of the tree, Cloud had to be called, and the Ex-SOLDIER basically yanked the monkey down by the foot into a pair of waiting arms.

"My hero." Zidane grinned at Cloud. He gave the older man a hug and hopped to the ground. Cloud raised an eyebrow. He felt his earlobes and found his earrings gone, then held a hand out to Zidane, who gave him a high-five.

"My earrings, Zidane."

"What earrings?" the boy held his hands behind his head before turning and running straight into Tifa's legs. She looked down at the golden-haired monkey, hands on hips and a disappointed look on her face. Zidane's mischievous demeanor wilted and he gave the earrings to his caretaker guiltily.

"Now what do you say to Cloud?"

Zidane glanced up at Cloud, tail wrapped around his ankle and the very image of a sad puppy. "Next time you won't feel me touch your ears." He laughed playfully and ran off. Cloud rolled his eyes and got his wolf earrings back from Tifa and put them in.

"Impressive, Tifa," Cloud huffed.

"I try," she said with a smile. She took Cloud's hand and went to sit on the bench. She pulled her bowl of cantaloupe back into her lap and continued eating. Cloud nabbed a piece and took a bite of the melon slice.

Tifa laughed, "You know what they say about taking a pregnant lady's food?"

Cloud smiled, one cheek full of melon, "What?"

"You have to give her twice as much as you took, or it's 9 months bad luck."

Cloud took two more cantaloupe slices from the bowl and handed them to Tifa. She rolled her eyes and held out the bowl for Cloud to put them back in.

Claire came out of the building with a scowl on her face, "One of the ba-bies is crying, Ms. Ti-fa. I keep on lo-sing my fo-cus and I can't read."

"Thank you for letting me know, Claire. Cloud, could you keep an eye on everyone out here?"

The blond glanced out at the playground full of kids and nodded slowly, "Hurry back."

Tifa sighed and stood up, "You had better not be this afraid of your own kid."

Cloud shook his head, "I won't."

"Ms. Ti-fa…" Claire tugged at Tifa's wrist and Tifa followed the pink haired girl inside.

Once in the nap room, Tifa groaned, "Tidus…"

The boy was crying and shaking the bars to the crib he and Zell were in. Zell was curled up snug as a bug, but several other kids were on the verge of waking. Tifa rushed over, picked up the 2-year-old, and left the room. She shut the door and looked in through the window to make sure everyone else was still sleeping. Those who had been disturbed calmed and fell back asleep, much to Tifa's relief.

Tidus wrapped his chunky arms around Tifa and hiccupped into her shoulder. She patted the boy's back and went outside with a blanket to put over Tidus' head to keep it dark. She sat back down next to Cloud and sighed.

"What's wrong?"

"I just know I'm going to melt. Tidus likes to sleep on people –specifically me– and I want him to fall asleep, so I put a blanket over him as you can see. And it's warm out here and pregnant ladies get hot easily. So don't complain if I have to go inside. Jeez, I'm barely along and I'm suffering from every pregnancy pain there is…"

Tifa saw Cloud's guard go up. She laughed mentally. He looked like he was ready to be attacked, "Just don't blame me. It takes two people to make a baby," Cloud reminded.

"Oh, shut up. I know that, goof," Tifa smiled and shoved him in the shoulder.

* * *

The next few hours passed without much incident, although Tifa had indeed needed to go inside. By the time the little kids and Terra were all woken up, parents were starting to arrive to get their children. The first to be picked up was Wakka (much to Tifa's delight. A boy as cheerful as Wakka doesn't belong in an orphanage), then Adelbert, Rinoa, and Garnet.

At around 4, Squall's mother arrived to pick him up. Tifa smiled and left to get the boy. At this time, Squall was entranced by the daycare's action figures, particularly one of a roaring lion. Tifa walked in and smiled at the small boy, "Squall, your mom's here to pick you up."

Squall immediately dropped the toy, grabbed his blanket, and bolted from the room. "MAMA! I'VE BEEN TWAMATIZED!"

Tifa blanched. What? She rushed after Squall to explain to his worried looking mother whatever Squall had meant.

The toddler held onto his mother's skirt and pointed at Tifa, "The wady began vomiting and anotho wady came and scawed me, and a man came with weyod haiya…he's scawy, Mama!" the boy sobbed.

Mrs. Loire blinked and looked at Tifa.

Tifa was beet red, "I'm so sorry. I'm not sick, I promise. I'm pregnant and I had to call my husband and my friend when I got morning sickness. I'm terribly sorry if there's a misunderstanding…"

Mrs. Loire's expression cleared immediately, "Oh, that's no problem. Do you feel better now? I'm afraid Squall can exaggerate things sometimes. I should have known that this was one of those cases."

Tifa waved her hand, relieved to clear her name. That was some of the trouble working with kids. You have no idea how they're really reacting to things or what they focus on. "I'm fine now. I just forgot to eat my midmorning snack. It won't happen again, and I'm going to be getting volunteers and possibly hiring help, so we won't have this problem anymore."

"Okay, good. I'm glad things worked out for today. So is that everything?"

"Yup, I've signed Squall out, so you're good to go, Mrs. Loire. Bye, bye, Squall."

* * *

Tifa was playing with a group of toddlers when Zell jumped up and squealed, "Ma's back!" He toddled to the front room as fast as his little legs could go, "Mama!" he called back to Tifa, "Ma's here to get me!"

Tifa laughed, "I know, I heard!" she got up and followed Zell to the front room with her entourage of children behind her. "Hey, Carla. Zell was very good today as usual."

"Good, Zell! Come here and give me a hug, sweetie. I missed you!" Mrs. Dincht dropped to her knees and held her boy close and gave him a kiss. Zell leaned into his mom and smiled happily.

Tifa finished signing Zell out on her computer and walked over, "Give me a hug before you go?"

Zell let go of his mother and held up his arms for Tifa to pick him up. She did and he gave her a big hug around her neck, "Bye, Mama!"

Tifa smiled and passed Zell back to his mother, "Bye, Carla, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Tifa!"

* * *

Tifa kept a mental count as the children were being picked up and she was staggered. By the time _thirty_ kids had been picked up, Locke, Zidane, Vaan, Luneth, and Tidus were the only ones left.

Tifa and Cloud had been playing with the last of the children when Edea rushed in and caught her breath, "I'm so sorry I'm late! You boys weren't too bored, right? Did you have fun with everyone?"

Locke, Zidane, Luneth, and Vaan rushed over to their main caretaker and smiled up at her. Zidane put his hands behind his head and rocked from side to side, "We had lots of fun!"

"And you didn't take anything?" Edea asked.

"We gave it back," Locke assured.

Luneth nodded, "I made sure they did."

Vaan nodded, "Ms. Tifa has the same rules as you, Matron."

Edea laughed softly and patted the boys on the head, "That's good. You need to listen to Ms. Tifa just as much as you listen to me."

Tifa walked over to Edea, Tidus clinging to a leg, "They were very well behaved today, other than a couple incidents. Do you have trouble getting food for them at all, Edea?"

The raven-haired woman frowned sadly, "Well, I do what I can, but funding has been a bit low lately," she knelt down to her boys with a smile, "But I was able to get lots of food today, so we can have a really good dinner, alright?"

"Edea?" Tifa started.

"Hm?"

"I always have some extra food here if you really need help, alright? Just come talk to me if you ever need anything. I got them all PB&J for lunch today."

Edea smiled gratefully, "That's so sweet of you, Tifa. Thank you so much. Boys, did you say 'Thank you'?"

"Yup," Locke said with a grin.

Luneth huffed, "Of course. That's what you tell us to do, isn't it?"

Zidane nodded and Vaan assured with an "Uh-huh."

"Good. Well, let's get back home. Come on, boys, the others are waiting," Edea started towards the door.

"Coming, Matron!" her boys called and ran after her.

Zidane paused at the door and turned back to Tifa. Tifa raised an eyebrow until Zidane walked up to her and held out a fist guiltily. Tifa held out her palm with a frown and Zidane dropped Cloud's earrings into her hand.

Cloud's jaw dropped and he felt his ears.

"Zidane, why do you do this?" Tifa sighed.

"I've already told you a bunch of times…" Zidane muttered.

Tifa knelt down, "I know you say that you want to use the money you steal for the orphanage, but stealing is wrong. You'll get in big trouble for it if you get caught, and if you keep it up as an adult, you could go to jail. No one wants to see that happen to you, okay sweetie?"

Zidane fiddled with his tail, "Yeah…"

"Don't keep Ms. Edea waiting." Tifa turned Zidane around and patted his back.

Zidane glanced over his shoulder at Cloud, "Sorry, Ms. Tifa's husband," before running out the door and joining the rest of his group.

Tifa shook her head and picked up Tidus and walked over to Cloud. She placed his earrings in his hand and he put them in. The pair stood silent for a moment.

Cloud looked over at Tifa, "When the hell did he take my earrings?"

"Cloud, language. And I don't know."

"I wanna play more." Tidus wiggled until Tifa put him down and he ran to the toy room. Cloud and Tifa followed at a leisurely pace.

"…Really, though." Cloud nudged his ear lobe, as if making sure the wolf earring was still there.

Tifa laughed, "That was a good trick he pulled, whatever it was. He should be a magician when he grows up, he's so good at making things disappear."

Time passed and neither Tidus' mother nor father arrived to take their boy home. After an hour had passed and the daycare had officially closed a half hour ago, Tifa called Tidus' mother. The phone rang several times before it was answered.

"Hello?" a groggy voice answered.

"It's 6:30, Mrs. Zuzela. Tidus needs to be picked up."

"It's what? Oh, shit, I'm so sorry. I'll be there right away. Tell Tidus I'm coming, alright?"

A gruff voice rumbled in the background, "Where ya goin'?"

Mrs. Zuzela's voice carried over from away from the phone, "I'm going to get Tidus. It's 6:30."

"Huh."

"You wanna come with me?"

Tifa held the phone away from her and rolled her eyes. When you're on the phone with someone, focus on the phone call, please.

Mr. Zuzela's voice continued, "I've been out since early this morning practicing. I gotta get rest or I won't be on top of my game tomorrow."

Tifa had never seen this father of Tidus'. Jecht seemed entirely too focused on whatever sport he played.

"Alright…well, I'll be back in a bit, Jecht."

"Mmhm."

"Are you sure you don't want to come?"

Tifa hung up the phone. She could predict this lasting a bit longer, so she sat with Cloud and Tidus and played with lego blocks for a bit.

In about 20 minutes, Tidus' mother finally arrived.

"Mama's here!" Tidus jumped up from his and Tifa's fort-building and ran out to the front room, "Mommy, Mommy!" he leaned up against her legs and raised his arms, asking to be picked up. The girl picked up her son and balanced him on a hip while Tifa came and signed Tidus out.

"I'm so sorry. I didn't realize what time it was, Tifa."

"Don't worry about it. Would you like me to call you at 5:30 tomorrow?"

"No, no, I got it. Thank you, though. Come on, Tidus, let's go home and see Daddy!"

Tidus ignored his mother's comment and snuggled closer to her as she walked out the door.

Cloud leaned off of the counter and walked over behind Tifa. He wrapped his arms around her and kissed her neck, "Finally. I have no idea how you're going to do this again tomorrow. I can help some, but I have deliveries in the morning."

"That's why we're going to put out ads for volunteers. I might also hire some new hands. I have twelve new kids this year, and lots of them are itty-bitty. Let's go home? I'm starving."

Cloud smiled, "Yeah. Want me to make something?"

Tifa laughed, "This oughta be interesting."

* * *

Hello! Thank you for reading! I'm thinking that this will have 9 or 10 installments for obvious reasons :) let me know what you think, pretty please!

Yes, Lightning's real name is Claire. *sigh* I was very disappointed with Squeenix when I found out :( also, I apologize if I spoiled that for anyone.

Also, Petunia, Eliha, and Cobalt are characters that me and a friend of mine made when we got mad at Final Fantasy 15 (which was originally Versus 13 for those of you unaware). They are three of the main characters in the real Final Fantasy 15 (which is totally fanmade and probably never will be published or finished). Just a fun little tidbit if you want it: Eliha is based on me (hence the pointless crush on Cloud, lol), Petunia is based on my friend, and Cobalt is based on her boyfriend.


	2. Chapter 2

Hello! Sorry for the wait. College is such a time suck, oh my gosh. But my intern, KRoW is here to help! She wrote this chapter and i edited it :) I really like what my friend did. The rest of this story will likely be a joint effort, so let me know what you think of KRoW's writing style

Lots of love!

* * *

Month 2

Tifa nervously sat at the check-in counter. Her new summer hires were coming in today. All she knew of the group was what she had seen on the applications, and while they were all "dependable, responsible individuals with positive attitudes," how many applicants _weren't?_

Tidus was hastily dropped off before any of the new workers came (or anyone else for that matter). As soon as his mom handed him to Tifa, the young woman rushed away while Tidus's chubby arms latched around Tifa's neck happily.

"I have to put you down," Tifa told him.

He knew not to protest. Rather, he blissfully buried his face into Tifa's plump chest. She sighed as he innocently glanced up at her with bright blue eyes.

"Okay, fine," she sighed as she sat down to look at her computer. Tidus giggled gleefully, but didn't squirm so that Tifa wouldn't set him down. He was always the first one there, so there was no point in letting him play by himself. Tifa would send the little blonde to the playroom as soon as another child came in. She opened another pouch of fruit snacks and started nibbling idly.

She opened her email to see that a new message had come in from Ms. Harvey; the boys wouldn't be coming in today due to Cecil catching the flu. Tifa rolled her eyes. It was far from flu season! Leave it to Cecil to get it.

After a few minutes of checking who needed to pay the monthly fee and of Tidus absently playing with Tifa's dark hair, a loud voice squealed, "MAMA!"

She looked up to see Mrs. Dinct entering with a bouncing Zell in her arms. "Hello!" Mrs. Dinct called as she made her way to the counter. Zell was beside himself as they approached. As soon as his Ma was close enough, Zell practically leapt across the counter into Tifa's lap. Tidus gave a jealous whine and snuggled against Tifa. Zell did so too, but in a less owning way.

A tall, red-headed man came in as Tifa and Mrs. Dinct chatted. "I'm here for the summer job. This is First Fantasy Daycare?"

"Oh!" Tifa stood up quickly and handed a disagreeable Tidus to the newcomer while she adjusted Zell on her hip. "You must be Lea!"

Mrs. Dinct looked skeptical. "Summer job?" she asked.

Tifa gave a sheepish smile. "With more kids coming in and a baby on the way I've needed some extra hands," she admitted.

Mrs. Dinct erupted into a smile, "Tifa, you're pregnant?"

Mrs. Strife smiled, "Yeah. I'm about 2 months along now," she informed while giving her belly a rub.

"Wow, 2 months? I didn't start showing until I was about 4 months."

Tifa cocked her head to the side and looked down at her belly, "I didn't realize it was noticeable yet. I'm pretty short, though. That might have something to do with it."

Mrs. Dincht laughed, "I suppose so. That would make sense. You make sure to keep me up to date, okay, Tifa?"

Tifa laughed and nodded, "Sure, Carla."

Lea cleared his throat as the smell of rotten eggs filled the air. He awkwardly held a sniveling Tidus away from him. "Uh… Ms. Strife…?"

Once Tidus had been changed into a fresh Pull-Up and told to tell Tifa when he needed to go potty, a steady stream of children began filing in. The other summer hires still hadn't shown up and Lea didn't seem to be doing too well with the kids. It seemed to Tifa that he wasn't here for the sole purpose of enlightening the minds of the young. He was likely here to do community service for college.

Tifa watched, amused, as Zidane and Wakka claimed either of Lea's arms and became like shackles while Lea was helpless to shake them off. She was about to go help him out when she felt a tiny tug on her skirt.

Looking up at her with large blue-gray eyes was Squall.

"Do you want something?" Tifa asked the toddler softly.

Squall shyly ducked his head down, still holding Tifa's skirt in one hand and clutching his blue blanket in the other.

Tifa chuckled. He was still so insecure around the other kids. She reached down to pick him up but he backed away, still not letting go of the skirt. She stood back up. "Alright, I can take a hint," she told him, at this point beginning to understand the complexities of Squall Loire. "Let's go check on Lea."

When Tifa made it over to Lea, Squall was glaring at the new redhead with distrust. Ignoring the toddler, Tifa asked her helper, "You having fun?"

He laughed nervously, lifting the arm that Wakka was on. The poppy-haired child cackled. "Ah, I'm fine," Lea lied.

"Wakka, Zidane," Tifa commanded. "Can you please go to the playground if you want to climb? Lea is not a jungle gym."

"Okay!" Wakka grinned. He hopped off Lea instantly and ran off to the corner where Lulu was playing quietly with her dolls. Tifa had the sinking feeling that Lulu may get angry with the boy and cast magic to keep him away.

When the monkey hadn't released the off-balance ginger, Tifa scowled. "Zidane…"

"Zidane," a polite voice scolded. Tifa turned to see Garnet standing on the side of Tifa opposite of Squall. She had her petite hands on her hips. "You need to get off of Mr. Lea."

"Er, ya don't have to call me mister…" Lea muttered.

"We're laaaaaate!"

The small group turned to see a pair of boys clumsily burst through the front door of the daycare. The two out-of-breath high schoolers leaned on their knees in fatigue once inside. They had very brightly colored eyes and large shoes.

"We're so sorry!" the brunette, spikey-haired boy gasped.

"This kid overslept," his silver-haired friend grumbled, gesturing to the first boy, "Sorry we're late."

Tifa was a bit angry, but glad to have more help. "It's fine, just try not to let it happen again. I'm Tifa. And this is Lea," she introduced.

"I'm Sora!" the brunette beamed, his breath back under control. "This is Riku!"

"I'm Garnet," the little horned girl said proudly. "And Zidane is invading Mr. Lea's personal space."

"No I'm not!" Zidane grinned. "He likes this!"

"Not really," Lea muttered. He was finally able to shake the kid off. Zidane set his sights on Riku's arm and tried to hop onto that.

"No," Tifa snapped as she lightly pushed Zidane into a different direction. He saw something else that looked interesting and began going that way.

Garnet ran after him. "Noooo! My tea set!"

Tifa turned to the two newcomers. "Would one of you please keep an eye on Zidane?"

By craft time, Isa and Kairi, the other summer helpers, and Aqua, Tifa's new employee had come in. They were helping the younger kids make their crafts. It was Riku's duty to keep Luneth out of the glue and Firion from cutting off his ponytail.

When Riku was busy with Luneth's sudden desire to eat the thick, sticky paste, Firion found a ponytail that was more appealing than his. Terra's emerald green locks tied in a pink bow seemed lovely today... Tifa's eyes went wide as the scissors neared her hair.

"Firion! No!" she screamed.

The unsuspecting Terra looked up from her half-finished macaroni portrait with a confused, "Huh?"

Tifa was too far away to grab the scissors from Firion, but Auron was plenty close. He swiftly snatched the scissors from the silver-haired boy and shouted, "No!"

Firion suddenly looked very innocent and said, "What?"

"Don't cut little girls' hair!" Auron scolded. He roughly placed the scissors in Riku's hand.

Riku looked horrified. "I'm so sorry that I wasn't paying attention," he told Tifa with wide eyes.

Terra's purple eyes were as round as saucers. "My… hair?"

Seifer suddenly stood up on his chair. "Auron likes Te-rra!"

The trouble-maker's buddy, Snow, leapt up and pointed at the older boy and green-haired girl. "Auron and Terra, sittin' in a tree… K-I-S-S-I-"

"Shut up!" Auron snapped.

"HEY," Tifa called firmly. The three sat down quietly, Auron forcibly quieting his anger and the two bullies trying to hide their smiles.

"Auron said a bad word…" Zell gawked.

"Um-muh-muh-muh-muh-muh..." Bartz gasped, pointing at Auron. The 7-year-old had to suppress his anger even more carefully, his lips a thin line.

"Ooh, Auron's in trouble…" Yuna ogled.

Tifa ran a hand through her hair. "No one is in trouble," she sighed. She quickly tried to regain the former, happy mood by moving around the room and complementing the globby macaroni pictures.

Tifa was bouncing from group to group of children and workers to warn them that nap time was in ten minutes. Squall followed Tifa around like a shadow to each group. He would not let go of her skirt out of insecurity and he made sure to be slightly behind Tifa as she addressed each group. Tifa first stopped at the group of children that Kairi was managing made up of Serah, Rinoa, Terra and Garnet. They sat around a short table having a tea party.

Tifa knelt down by the table. Before she said anything, she glanced over at Squall. Rinoa noticed him and thought it would be a good idea to see what would happen if she poked his face. As her finger neared the boy, he flinched and gave a whimper. Rinoa pouted and turned back to the tea party with a huff.

With a stifled laugh, Tifa turned to Kairi. "So what are you up to?"

Rinoa piped up, interrupting Kairi. "We're having a tea party!"

Tifa smiled. "Well, that sounds—"

"Mr. Snufflepants just knocked over Ms. Kairi's teacup because he's jealous because she just kissed Baby Squiggles and Sir Poofybottom is trying to calm everybody down so that Madame Shine won't throw him in the dungeon, and-"

Tifa ignored the dark-haired girl. "So Kairi—"

"But then Mr. Snufflepants ate all the crumpets and Baby Squiggles is angry—" Rinoa raved, getting louder gradually. Squall made an almost inaudible moan and moved behind Tifa.

"Rinoa, you need to stop interrupting," Tifa cut off.

"But I'm not interrupting!" Rinoa bossed.

"Tifa, it's fine," Kairi told the daycare owner. "Anyway, what were you—"

"I'm not finished!" Rinoa whined.

After giving a heavy sigh, Tifa firmly told Rinoa, "It's really rude to interrupt people, Rinoa. I need to talk to Miss Kairi right now."

"But why?" Rinoa whined again.

"You are not being very polite," Garnet told Rinoa.

Rinoa gasped and scowled at the other black-haired girl, her feathers thoroughly ruffled. She opened her mouth to say something, then couldn't think of anything. Then she did think of something to say. "You can't come to the tea-party anymore," she told Garnet in a holier-than-thou way.

"But it's Garnet's tea-set," Terra whispered. Serah looked at the other girls nervously, not knowing what to say.

"Rinoa, that's not very nice," Kairi scolded lightly. Rinoa slumped in her seat after adjusting her Rapunzel crown, but said nothing. Kairi looked at Tifa. "So what did you need?"

"I came over to warn you that it's almost naptime—"

"NO!" Rinoa bolted from her seat and tried to go to the door. She was too fast for Tifa or Kairi to catch. Luckily, Riku was standing near the door and he caught her. She writhed in his grasp while Tifa smiled wryly. She loved having helping hands. After telling the other girls to start cleaning up the tea party, Tifa made her way over to Riku.

"Be careful," she warned him as he struggled to keep the slippery princess in his hold. "She will—"

Rinoa interrupted again by biting down on Riku's arms. He gave a holler, faltering his grasp for a moment, but then regained his control over the toddler.

"Rinoa!" Tifa snapped. "What have I told you about biting?"

The small girl continued rebelling. Riku was struggling harder. With his un-bitten arm, he held her around the torso and he gawked at the other, which had bite-marks. "What the heck?!" he exclaimed.

"Yeah, sorry," she quickly apologized. Then she turned her attention to Rinoa. "You're going in time-out!"

Rinoa began going even more ballistic. Riku held her tighter, looking extremely fed-up with the demon-child. "Riku," Tifa asked as kindly as she could. "Would you please go take Rinoa over to the nap room? There should be a yellow chair in the corner. That's the time-out chair."

Riku forced a tired smile. "Alright, sure," he sighed. "Do you want me to stay in there until nap time?"

"Sure," she told him.

With a slowly weakening Rinoa, he stumbled over to the nap room.

After that monster was taken care of, she made her way over to a group of unattended toddlers made up of Bartz, Luneth, Zell, and Tidus. They had found the fake plastic food and were not fake-eating. Instead, they were putting the hard toys in their slobbery mouths. Squall cringed at Tifa's side at the sight.

Tifa knelt down by the boys. "No, no, no, no…" she told them hurriedly, taking a plastic hot dog away from Zell. Zell's huge blue eyes widened and he opened his mouth to start crying. Tifa immediately noticed this. "Zell, I'm not taking away your hot dog. See? It's a pretend hot dog." She tried to get the attention of the other boys. "You don't actually eat the food, you pretend eat it." The boys looked at her blankly. Zell was now distracted from crying. Tifa began to "pretend" nibble the hot dog. "Nom-nom-nom-nom-nom! Mm-mm! That was yummy!" She handed the hot dog back to Zell. "Now you try."

Zell stared at the hot dog, and then copied Tifa's actions while the others looked on. "Num-num-num-num-num…" he "chomped." He looked at Tifa for approval.

Tifa gave a small clap. "Very good, Zell!" she praised. Then she looked at all the others. "It's almost nap time, so start putting away the toys. But once nap time is over, you all can practice eating."

"Okay!" Luneth beamed. He was the first to start cleaning up. The other boys followed in suit.

Tifa noticed that Squall reached for a plastic pizza and began "nibbling" at it. Then he looked at Tifa hopefully. She smiled down at him. "Yeah! You've got the hang of it!" she cheered.

A shadow of a smile started to creep onto Squall's face, but then it quickly disappeared as he put the pizza back in the food-box.

Soon enough, the toddlers were all in beds and cribs and taking naps. It took a while to get Rinoa down, though, seeing as Tifa and Riku had to perfectly arrange her stuffed Pascal and Maximus and castle pillow perfectly before she would even consider taking a nap.

However, after that was done, Tifa could finally sit down and have her snack. So far this day, her morning sickness hadn't hit, but she was feeling a bit hungry. She opened up her package of fruit gummies as she watched the older kids run around the playground. From her bench under the large tree that stood by the swing set, she could see all the kids clearly. Wakka and Zidane were chasing Beatrix around the playground, until she swiftly turned around. She must've realized that she was being chased by wimps. When the two boys saw that she had whirled around, they back-pedalled and swerved around as she began chasing them.

Tifa smiled and took a swig of her red Kool-aid to cool her down. She had been feeling so hot ever since she got pregnant! She briefly thought of Cloud and how on-guard he had been since he learned of her pregnancy. He was actually acting scared of her!

Aqua approached Tifa, interrupting her thoughts. "Excuse me, Mrs. Strife," she addressed. "Do you need for me to do anything?"

Tifa looked up at the blue-haired girl. Goodness, her new employees had such odd hair! Then again, she was married to the king of unique hair. "Not right now. Just make sure that Beatrix over there doesn't hurt Zidane or Wakka," she told Aqua.

By the time that Aqua turned to see the three children, it was too late. Beatrix had tackled Zidane and was pulling his tail. Zidane was crying out with each yank. Tifa was about to stand when Aqua dashed over to the two and pulled Beatrix off of the monkey. Beatrix was still kicking and punching as she was taken away from Zidane. The monkey curled up onto the pebbled ground and tucked his aching tail between his legs. He whimpered pitifully, but Tifa knew that Zidane was just trying to be the victim. There was no doubt that he had instigated the chase. He deserved a bit of a beating from the tomboy.

Nonetheless, she couldn't help but feel bad for him; that was like having his spine yanked.

Wakka, who had seen Zidane getting pummeled, hid behind the swirly slide.

Tifa made her way over to Zidane, Beatrix and Aqua. "He pulled my hair!" Beatrix whined before anyone else could explain.

Zidane looked up at Tifa with crying blue eyes, hoping that she'd take his side. "Didn't you see her?" he pleaded. "She hurt me!"

"Beatrix," Tifa bargained. "If Miss Aqua puts you down, will you hurt Zidane?"

She pouted. "Maybe…" she mumbled. Tifa raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms. Beatrix looked down. "…No…"

Aqua quietly set down the ticking time bomb. By then, snickering Adelbert waddled over to the foursome. He pointed a chunky finger at Zidane. "Look what happens when you're mean to people who fight better than you," he taunted.

"Adelbert!" Aqua gasped.

Tifa scowled at the busybody. "You should know what happens to little boys who tease other people," she threatened. Adelbert blanched at the thought of a goody-two-shoes like himself being sentenced to the ever-dreaded time-out chair. "Now go play somewhere else."

Beatrix stuck her tongue out and Zidane briefly dropped his act and giggled at Mrs. Tifa's threat to the beefy boy. Adelbert hurried away so that he wouldn't get in trouble.

Once the Steiner boy was gone, Tifa turned back to the two rivals. "Zidane, why did you pull Beatrix's hair?" she asked.

Zidane gave a huge grin. "Because when I do, it goes BOING!" he sang, pantomiming pulling one of Beatrix's brown tendrils.

"I don't like it!" Beatrix shouted.

"Can you tell that to Zidane?" Tifa asked. Beatrix opened her mouth to scream at the monkey, but Tifa cut her off. "Nicely?"

Beatrix pouted. "I don't like it when you pull my hair," she grumbled.

"Now, Zidane…" Tifa began.

"Mrs. Strife!" Riku came bounding from the building. He had been keeping an eye on the nappers. Something must have been urgent if he left.

Tifa asked Aqua to make sure that the two made up while she tended to Riku.

"What's wrong?" Tifa asked the silver-haired boy.

"There's a kid who woke up," he explained. "He won't stop crying. I tried to pick him up, but he won't let me touch him."

Tifa nodded. "Okay. I'll take care of him. You can keep an eye on the kids out here," she told him. Riku seemed relieved that he was able to get some fresh air and release energy with the older kids while Tifa quietly tended to the napping toddlers. She grabbed her Kool-aid and fruit snacks before heading inside.

After going through a mental list of possible suspects, Tifa was sure that the culprit was either Zell or Tidus. They were the most needy, after all.

She was surprised to see that the two blondes were sleeping, but stirring from the quiet, but irregular sobs coming from a brown head that was peeking at her from over the side of a crib. Once he saw her enter the room, Squall reached his shaky arms out to Tifa, a demand to be held.

Tifa's heart melted. Was he finally warming up to her? She hoped so. He had been the only child that had ever come through her daycare that wasn't immediately attached to her.

She scooped the small boy up. He had his blanket clutched in one hand like always. It was held against him with one arm and the other arm reached up to Tifa's shoulder. Tifa began going to her rocking chair, hoping to quiet him down before the other children woke up and demanded that they have Tifa-Time, too.

She rocked Squall for a little while, elated that he was finally comfortable around her. Slowly but surely, he began calming down and his gaspy breaths were becoming few and far between. His exhausted head leaned against her soft chest sleepily. Then he would pick it back up defiantly and start to sob again, but then he would start to get sleepy and begin to lean his head back down. He was so cute! He was trying his best not to fall asleep.

Tifa gazed down at Squall, wishing that she had her baby. While she loved cuddling with the toddlers here, it wouldn't the same as snuggling with her own flesh and blood. Besides, her baby wouldn't be as aloof as Squall, most likely… unless of course the baby took after Cloud. What if the baby did take after Cloud? The first thought that Tifa had about a Cloud-like baby was a momma's boy with hair that stuck up in all angles. Maybe the momma's boy part wasn't so bad, but those would be some wild baby photos…

Before Tifa knew it, Squall was peacefully asleep. She knew she should go back, but Squall could wake up at any minute… right? And the new guys could handle the kids. Tifa would just keep an eye on the napping children. They would come if they needed her.

Geez, her pregnancy was really making her want to be around younger kids. She decided to give into her hormones. Besides, Squall was finally cuddly. She wanted to enjoy that before he woke up.

By the time that Squall woke up, it was time for the children to go back home. Parents were coming in periodically and picking up their children.

Squall pushed away from Tifa and gave an unhappy moan as soon as he woke up. He fussed and struggled until Tifa set him down. Well, it was nice cuddling with him while it lasted.

When she did set him down, he stayed by her side but would not allow anyone to touch him.

The Farron sisters left first and rather quietly. Tifa noticed that Claire hadn't said a word all day, but then she spied a Harry Potter book under the pink-haired girl's arm.

Tidus's mom actually came on time this day and she left without much chatter. At least she showed up without Tifa having to call her and her meatheaded husband who remained faceless.

Squall and Seifer's mothers came at about the same time. Squall ran to his mother and latched onto her pant leg. He began babbling to her about his nightmare where an evil time witch stopped time, but how Ms. Tifa helped him. Tifa smiled to herself as she turned to call Seifer.

She saw him in the playroom with action figures in each hand. "Seifer!" she called. "Your mom's here!"

The usually stoic boy's face lit up and he shot up where he stood, dropping the action figures. Then he suddenly regained his straight face as he ran to his mother.

Once all the kids went home and most of the new employees had gone home, Tifa and Aqua were left at the daycare.

"So why aren't you going home?" Tifa asked the blue-haired girl.

"Oh," she replied as she looked up from her phone. "My boyfriend's coming to pick me up. What about you?"

Tifa smiled as there was a low rumble in the parking lot. "Same. My husband," she told Aqua.

Through the glass doors, the two women saw a massive motorcycle and a pick-up pull into the lot.

Aqua grinned shyly. "There's Terra," she said as she grabbed her purse. "I had a good day today, Mrs. Strife."

"Just Tifa," the other woman told her. Aqua waved and made her way out to the pick-up truck. Inside was a handsome brown-haired boy waiting for her. He greeted Aqua warmly before putting the truck in reverse.

As the pick-up pulled away, a spiky-headed blonde entered the daycare.

Tifa stood up and met Cloud at the door with a kiss. "Hi there, stranger," she greeted.

Cloud looked down at Tifa happily and handed her a letter on fancy stationary. "Got a letter from Aerith today," he told her.

Tifa opened up the letter curiously, wondering what could be inside. After studying the note inside the envelope, she snorted in an amused way. "Zack and Aerith finally chose a date," she told Cloud who had been reading over her shoulder. "Aerith wants me to be her maid of honor."

Cloud ruffled Tifa's black hair. "Of course she would," he chuckled.

Tifa gasped, "Ah, Cloud!" she pointed at the date. "That's in six months!"

Cloud crossed his arms. "Yeah, Zack likes to take his time, dontcha think?"

"No, no, no…" Tifa gestured to her already growing stomach. "I'll be eight months along!" She hugged her stomach as her eyes went wide. "I'll be fat!"

Cloud kissed her forehead. "You won't be fat," he told her. "You'll be fine."

Tifa shifted her weight as she thought. "Oh, alright," she muttered. She pointed a finger in his face. "But you let me know if I do get fat!"

"Okay, fine," he sighed. He took her hand and began escorting her out to Fenrir. "Now let's go home."


End file.
